LAHORE-The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday organised a session on “Punjab Rozgar Scheme” in collaboration with Punjab Small Industries Corporation at LCCI.
LCCI President Kashif Anwar, Senior Vice President Chaudhry Zafar Mahmood, Vice President Adnan Khalid Butt, Project Director of Punjab Rozgar Scheme Shahzeb Hssan Kirmani and experts from different sectors spoke on the occasion.
Project Director of Punjab Rozgar Scheme Shahzeb Hssan Kirmani said that Punjab Rozgar Scheme is a flagship initiative of Government of the Punjab designed with the total cost of Rs. 30,000.00 million (Rs. 30 billion) to provide subsidized credit facilities to the micro, small and medium (MSMEs) startups and existing business in collaboration with commercial banks. Government of the Punjab will provide markup support and risk coverage to minimize cost of commercial loans for the MSMEs, and to overcome pandemic effect of COVID-19 on existing business. He said that Punjab Rozgar Scheme has been designed with special focus on generating employment opportunities for the youth by creating economic activities. University graduates with entrepreneurial skills and diploma / certificate holders of technical / vocational training institutes, as well as existing businesses hit by COVID-19 will be considered.
LCCI President Kashif Anwar said that the Punjab Rozgar Scheme launched by Government of Punjab will support the new start-ups and also mitigate the harmful impacts caused by COVID-19 on existing businesses. It was good to know that The Bank of Punjab has collaborated with Punjab Small Industries Corporation for this useful initiative of the govt. He said that since these loans which range from Rs.100,000 to Rs1m under Clean Loan Category and from Rs1m to Rs10m under Secured Loan Category are being given at low mark-up rate of 4-5 percent, so, there is a tremendous opportunity for micro, small and medium enterprises to enhance their access to credit. 
He said that LCCI appreciates that equity ratio for women, transgender and disabled persons is 90:10 as compared to 80:20 for men. This step will certainly facilitate the less privileged segments of our society. Kashif Anwar was of the view that better access to finance will greatly assist the micro, small and medium enterprises in getting the required access to new technology and enhance their export competitiveness with the help of loans taken under Punjab Rozgar Scheme.